Cinderella: A Fractured Fairytale

Thirty

Jovette's POV

Chapter 30

***

I stared unabashedly at my captor as he went about clearing up a space in the grove of trees he'd transported me to. It looked like he had some sort of camp set up here.

"Who are you?" I finally asked. Then I realized how un-forceful my voice was. I allowed anger to creep into my tone. "And what is the meaning of this? How dare you hold me captive?"

The Eric look-alike looked up. "This is your own fault. If you had only minded your own business, not seen me, I wouldn't have had to do this." He stopped for a moment, his tone hardening. "Not that I'm averse to kidnapping. But you'll be an extra mouth to feed, extra baggage to carry along..."

I glared. "I am not baggage, thank you very much. Now kindly tell me exactly who you are and why you kidnapped me."

"Well, I'm not Eric," he replied shortly.

"We've established that. I didn't ask who you're not. What's your name?" I was exasperated. "Or must I make up a name to call you, like Rainbow or Sparkles? Tell me your name, which is probably more fear-inspiring than either of those, or let me choose one."

The young man glared. "Ethan," he finally said, his voice hard. "That's my name."

"Ethan." I let that sink in. "Now the 'why you kidnapped me' part."

He groaned. "You got in the way. What was I supposed to do? Eric can't know I was there."

"Who is Eric to you, anyway?" I asked. "Why do you look exactly like him? Does he know you?"

"Know me?" Now Ethan seemed coldly amused. "I should say he does. He's my brother. My twin brother, though I'm minutes older and much better than him."

"Oh." I mumbled. "That would explain why you're identical, wouldn't it? And... why were you in my room?"

"I'll answer this one question and then no more," Ethan said, expressionless. "I was there looking for something. I need someone my brother cares for. A hostage."

"Why?"

He didn't answer.

I pestered him for minutes with my questions, but all he did was fold his arms and watch me with a blank expression, seemingly waiting out the storm.

Finally, I stopped, frustrated.

"Are you quite finished?" he asked calmly.

I shot him a glare. "I already hate you."

"That's the point!" Now he seemed frustrated, too.

"No, it's not! You don't even want me here!"

"Regardless of that, here we are," he shot back.

"Well, what are you going to do, hmmm?" I pursed my lips. "Go back and kidnap someone else? Take me back because I'm useless as a hostage, anyway?"

"No." Ethan replied slowly. He regarded me with slight interest. "I already have you. I don't need anything else."

"Ha!" I snorted. "You think Eric's gonna do anything to get me back? He hates me! Everyone does!"

He ignored me and walked over to a tree, tracing the bark or something. I watched him, exasperated. Who did he think he was? He couldn't kidnap me!

I refuse. This won't happen. I say it won't, so it won't. Soon he'll see how disagreeable I am and take me back.

"La, la, la, la la," I sang in a voice that I knew was very off-key. I had tried to take lessons from a choir teacher and had been kicked out of the voice class. "La, la la, hm hm hm hm."